


The Crimes of Catalysts

by dancingelephant



Category: Original Work, The Crimes of Catalysts
Genre: Gen, Multi, Other, This is the first chapter of the book I'm writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 21:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2202987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingelephant/pseuds/dancingelephant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Leena Cabello is hit with her family being torn apart, she doesn't know how to fix it. And now she is being sent to live with her aunt in a new city, away from her home and friends that she's used to. It'll take a lot more than her own willpower to fix her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Crimes of Catalysts

**Author's Note:**

> This is the back story and intro for my book so far. Please let me know what you think! Thanks. Also, these chapter titles and the main title itself are subject to change, and I will eventually fix that summary, when its not one in the morning...

Blue and brown. Those were my favourite colours. Blue; the sky and water. Brown; the earth, trees, and chocolate. They were my favourite colours, but they were also the colours of my eyes. I always knew that my eyes made me different, and my parents told me it made me unique, and special, having two different coloured eyes, and they loved me for who I am no matter what. But even though I saw these colours every day, I didn’t like them in combination on my body. My entire upper body was practically one solid bluish-brown bruise, as I lay in my hospital bed.

I had just woken up, and was looking around at my surroundings, when I noticed a dull throbbing on my chest. That seemed to be where the bruising centered, although I couldn’t really tell, because it hurt too much to move the bed covers completely off. My left leg also had pain shoot through it when I tried to move them to have a look around. I tried calling for someone, but it seemed that my room was currently empty, and there was moonlight streaming in from a window beside my bed. Was it nighttime? Well, it would have to be, but how long have I been asleep for? There were so many questions racing through my mind.

Why. Why did I hurt so much? Why was I in a hospital? Why weren’t my parents here?

What can I remember last? A car. But why a car? Were we going somewhere? Yes, somewhere important. Somewhere I wanted to go, I think. Right, my gymnastics competition. I had convinced my parents to both come see my gymnastics performance, since it was one of the preliminaries for this year’s provincial competition.  It was also the first time that both of my parents were able to attend, since usually something either comes up for my dad at work, or I car pooled with my mom and some of the other athletes. I was nervous, not only because both my parents were going to be watching, but what this could also determine for my gymnastics career.

Not that I wanted to become a professional athlete. I just wanted to see how far I could go with it. My parents had encouraged me to put education first, especially my mom, since you never know what could happen to your body and strength, but you can usually rely on your mind. Since grade 12 was coming up next year, I had decided to stop doing gymnastics as much. My parents and I had agreed that this would be my last year of almost daily practices. I had changed my schedule from 5 days a week to three, which I thought would help me manage my upcoming work load for school. But since next year would just be for fun, not competition, this would be my only chance at getting to the provincial competitions. I wouldn’t even be able to try out again if I messed this up. That was a lot of stress for just one day.

I had been explaining to my dad why gymnastics was helpful in learning physics when we turned a corner. We didn’t notice that one of the approaching cars wasn’t slowing down until it was too late. We were hit… from the left side, probably at an angle, cause the driver and the front passenger seats took the brunt of the blow. I was sitting on the right side, and must have passed out at soon as my head had hit the car door. I woke up seemingly seconds later, but there were sirens and lights, and my head was aching. There must have been glass everywhere. It was dark and blood was all over the ground near my face, but when I lifted my head, I realized that was just because one of my eyes was shut. The aching in my head and the blood on the ground were probably somehow connected, but I hadn’t been conscious enough at the time to care. A few paramedics lifted me on to a stretcher, but I couldn’t remember anything after that. The best guess would be that I was unconscious before I could ask them about any other survivors.

After what seemed like hours, I was jolted out of recalling recent events by a nurse walking in. When she saw that I was awake, she told me she would be right back, and went back out of the room. Only to return a minute later, a doctor in tow.

“Good afternoon. I’m Doctor Bellam, and I’ve been your head doctor for the past little while. First things first, how are you feeling?”

I opened my mouth, but found that it hurt my face to move it much. I answered, slowly, “My chest and leg hurt a bit, and I feel sore all over, but other than that I’m fine.”

“Alright, I’ll see about getting your painkillers adjusted. I need ask you a couple of questions to see how much you remember. Please answer them to the best of your abilities, and don’t worry if you can’t answer one. While I do that, I’m going to shine this light into your eyes, to check for concussions, which may be uncomfortable. Is that alright?

“Yes”

He nodded, and fished a small flashlight out of his coat pocket, shining it first in my left eye, and then my right. “Ok, first, could you please tell me if you know who you are?”

 “My name is Leena Cabello.”

“Good, anything else? Your age, your middle name?” He wrote something on his clipboard, then looked up at me expectantly.

 I looked down at my hands, which were in my lap, worrying at my sheets. “Right, sorry.” I replied, “I’m sixteen, and my middle name is Katlyn.”

He nodded. “All correct. Do you know where you are, and what happened to you?”

I looked up then, and sighed. “Well, I’m at a hospital, but I’m not sure which one, though it’s probably in Vancouver, BC. I was in the car with my parents, and we were…. on our way to my gymnastics competition, I think. We were turning, but a car came speeding through the red light and drove straight into us…… I woke up for a few minutes when I was getting put on a stretcher, but I didn’t see my parents. I think I passed out after that. Do you know where they are?” I finished, distressed.

He nodded, and moved the papers on his clipboard around, and then said, “Your mother is two rooms down. You yourself have major bruising and cuts on your upper body, though it was mainly focused on your chest and arms. You also have a facture in you left leg, and some minor damage to your face. I’m afraid that some of the more major abrasions on your chest and face will be permanent. You’re lucky to be alive actually. Just a few inches to the left and your head would not be in its proper shape. You are currently at St John’s Hospital, in Vancouver. We’ve already contacted your emergency contacts that were listed, and your Aunt Liza has agreed to take you. She said she was going to come visit you tomorrow, if you were up for it, and you can go and stay with her after you’ve recovered.”

I mulled this over for a second, and decided that living with scars on my face was better than not living at all, and that I did get along with Aunt Liza just fine. I turned back to the doctor, and stated, my eyes narrowed, “You still haven’t told me where my dad is, and what condition both of my parents are in. Surely I shouldn’t to stay with Liza for too long, right?”

Doctor Bellam shifted uncomfortably, and looked at the nurse, before answering me hesitantly, “I’m sorry to tell this to you so soon after you just woke up, but your mother, she is comatose, and…. Your father had passed away by the time the ambulances got there.”

“….What?” I exclaimed, disbelieving. “That’s not true! They wouldn’t just die from that! They’re police officers, they were trained to expect to die on the job!” I said, my breath quickening with each word.

Doctor Bellam looked between me and the nurse standing nearby before saying, “I’m sorry to say it is true. Leena, even the best of us can die. They were only human.” He said calmly, slowly.

I took a deep breath. And exhaled with a shudder. “Yeah, I know. Just… can I see them? Or even my mom?”

He nodded, and the nurse helped me into a nearby wheelchair. After a twenty minute journey, we reached my mother’s room. The nurse pushed my chair beside the bed, and left the room, but probably didn’t go out of ear shot.

I turned to look at my mother. She laid there like…. Like she was asleep, I guess. Which she was, technically speaking. I watched her for a few more minutes, trying to see any signs that this wasn’t a normal sleep, and that she wouldn’t wake up, see me, and ask me why I wasn’t getting ready for school. I reached for her hand, and felt my heart ache when she didn’t even stir. I was somewhat relieved when I felt it was still warm though. Rubbing her hand to warm it further, I started talking.

“…If someone hadn’t told me you were in a coma, I would have thought you were sleeping the deepest you had in years. You haven’t slept this deeply since… I don’t actually know. You and dad always had odd work hours, what with defending the law and all.” My voice cracked, but I pressed on. “It’s kind of funny, really, cause you and dad both thought that you would either die by getting shot while doing your civic duty, or of old age. In the end it was neither, wasn’t it?” I gave a bitter laugh. “Dad died because of someone’s disregard for the law, and you’re practically a vegetable because of it.” I blinked away the tears that threatened to overtake my eyes.

“I was thinking that Dad’s funeral could be on next week Thursday. I guess it would be in bad taste to have one for you too.” My shoulders started to shake. “I should have known something would happen to you two! You were always out there, sticking your necks out for the “greater good” I breathed out slowly, not bothering to try and disguise the tears any more. After all, who’d see them? I was barely chocking out my words as it was, and whoever heard them would definitely be able to tell that I was upset.

I sighed heavily. “If only I hadn’t been so selfish. You two didn’t need to come see me compete. I could have gotten a ride with someone else, or even not distracted Dad at all! I guess that was pretty self-centred, huh? Wanting the people that you love most in your life to appreciate your talents?” The words were coming faster now, louder. “Well, it’s too late for this revelation. You both out of commission, and I might as well be. A broken leg, scars all across my chest, arms and face, and post-traumatic stress to boot. Dr. Bellam said I’m lucky though. That that much force on my head should have killed me, or at least given me serious brain damage, and probably more than a few broken bones. If this is luck, then I don’t want to know what isn’t.” I tapered off for s few seconds, having said everything of importance already. “Aunt Liza says that I can come and stay with her, if I want. I guess I have to, since I can’t go off on my own yet. But I guess it could be worse. She’s a nice enough person, and she lives in a relatively apartment in Vancouver. I’ll just have to leave my friends, my home, and my memories of you guys behind at home.”

I stopped abruptly. What else was there to say? Goodbye, I guess, but she wouldn’t have heard me anyways. I started to turn my chair towards the door, but it was caught on something. I called for a nurse, but gave up soon after. There were very few nurses on duty at this hour, and I didn’t want to wake up any other patients. So I tried standing, which quickly turned to leaning on any available object. As much as the cast on my leg supported me, I wasn’t strong enough for that just yet. I headed for the door to go back towards my room, and leaned heavily on the door frame and wall the whole way. I stumbled once, but caught myself. I could do this, I don’t need any help. I would survive on my own. I took another few steps, but tripped, and fell, and landed on the hands. I started to cry. A nurse rushed over, and must have heard me exclaim as I fell. He grabbed a chair, and helped me into it as another nurse went and got my wheelchair. As I let myself get maneuvered back into my transport, and taken back to my room, I realized that I really was hopeless.

When Liza came to visit me the next day, I was picking through my lunch. It was rice with now-cold gravy and roast beef. There were probably some form of vegetables in there too, but they had been smothered with the goo-like sauce. Liza rapped twice on the door frame, since the door was hanging open to the hallway, before walking in and taking a seat beside my bed. She was silent for a few moments, eyes scanning my face, resting on the bandages over the left side of my face, before quickly glancing away.

She cleared her throat, looked at her hands, and said, “How are you feeling?”

I sighed, and scrubbed my hand over the less bandaged eye. “Like I got hit by a car.” I said, pushing the platter away from myself and laying down my fork. I turned my body to face her fully, since I was supposed to try and not turn my neck as much as possible. “What have they told you so far?”

Liza finally decided to make eye contact again. “That you have a broken leg, minor concussion, and probably won’t be able to do gymnastics again. Well, not to the extent that you could before.” She paused, and looked down again. “Leena, I’m so sorry. I have no idea what you must be going through, but always know that I’m here for you.”

I laid my hand on her’s. “Liza.. yeah, you’re probably right, but you lost a brother yesterday. We’re.. we’re both going through a lot, so we may as well be in this together.”

She wrapped both her hands around mine, and sniffling a bit, said, “Which is why you should come live with me, if you want. It could be a fresh start. A new house, a new school. I’ll be there to help you adjust the entire time.”

I was quite for a moment. Changing schools was a given if I was going to move in with her, but I hadn’t really considered it. I couldn’t go back to my old school and friends like this anyways. They wouldn’t understand what I was going through, and I would just feel alienated.

“Alright.” I accepted, pulling my hand from hers. A thin smile pulled at my face. “But you have to help me find a job.”


End file.
